Power Maxed Racing showed its pace at the latest round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone last weekend. Dave Newsham handed the team its best qualifying result to date and scooped a 4th place finish, while teammate Josh Cook again clinched the Jack Sears Trophy in what was a bruising weekend for the rookie BTCC team.
After a cracking qualifying session, Newsham started race one on the 3rd row of the grid, surrounded by former BTCC Championship title winners. Both drivers made good starts with Newsham in 5th place into the first corner and Cook fighting his way through the mid pack, avoiding contact from the early retirees.
Early laps and the medium tyre compound saw Newsham keeping pace with the Honda of Gordan Shedden. Lap 17 saw Newsham make a move up the inside of the BMW of Sam Tordoff, moving cleanly into 4th place, to then set about chasing the Honda for 3rd but unfortunately ran out of laps crossing the line in a season-best 4th, with Cook 14th.
Both drivers made solid starts in race two and ensured a clean damage free first lap with Newsham into 14th and Cook 17th. Cook battled up to 16th, while Newsham suffered a technical issue which ended his race. Cook continued his charge gaining positions over the next few laps and crossed the line in 12th place.
Unfortunately, Newsham was unable to make it out for race three because of his engine issue. Cook started 14th but Cook suffered multiple contacts during the race which dropped him back down the field. He eventually finished in 16th place.
Adam Weaver, Team Principal commented, “It’s great to see the work we are doing to develop the car paying off, Dave showed his experience and skill to give us our highest ever qualifying position and drove well to give us a 4th place finish. Josh also delivered the Jack Sears again so smiles all round.”
Weaver continued, “It has been a bit of a manic weekend for many teams, us included, with plenty of contact and some big accidents resulting in a high attrition, still it is nice to have a tough weekend and still come out with so many positives.”
The BTCC concludes on the October 10th & 11th at Brands Hatch, with full coverage available on ITV4.
